Vending Machine - 139 - The People of the Forest (Patreon)

Gumihou: I can’t remember, but I think the Director of the Beginner Floor is a sexy lady in red?

There was no easy way to come up with a brilliant idea overnight. Therefore, the next day we engaged the monsters using the same tactic once more, only with more Hunters.

This time, Ramis focussed her attention on pulling trees while the others fought the monsters. Since they had already done this yesterday, things went a little more smoothly this time.

There were the occasional monsters who tried to attack Ramis. However, those were either shot away with a well placed can from my or was batted away by the tree in Ramis’ arms.

While it was fine to fight barehanded against a single enemy, it was better to deal with a large number of enemies with a weapon. In Ramis’ case, her weapon was a whole tree.

I wonder, just what kind of weapon would suit Ramis most? She seemed to like fighting with her fists, but having a weapon with more reach would be helpful against multiple enemies.

Just look at how she easily sweeps away several monsters with just one swing. However, a giant sword just doesn’t suit her image, not a spear either. Oh, how about a halberd? That thing that looked like a cross between a spear and an axe used by Mister Goggai the money changer.

Maybe we could make the blade part bigger to fully utilise her monstrous strength and literally sweep the enemies away?

While I was dreaming up possible weapons for Ramis, monsters were being defeated around me and trees were sailing over our heads to land into the village square.

Although the monsters were numerous, our allies were pretty strong. Many of whom were elite levels in fact. Looks like the assumption that the lower the levels, the stronger the monsters equal to highly skilled individuals. Everyone seems to know exactly what to do as well as the best and most efficient way of destroying these plant-type monsters.

Another thing that makes the battle easier on our side is the barrier and hose that Hyurumi had made. At the end of the hose was something that looked like a gun that blasted out liquid when the trigger is pulled, expelling the liquid inside with great force.

This magic tool was made using available materials and was apparently modelled after my <High Pressure Washer> to blast out liquid.

The liquid inside the barrel was actually herbicide. I was disappointed to realize that this toxic substance was not available as part of the Vending Machine product, but it looks like herbicide also exist in some form here. Hyurumi managed to mix up this toxic substance as well as create this unique magic tool overnight.

"Yesss, die~! Die~!”

It looks like she had a lot of fun spraying her toxic concoction around.

I had no idea what was inside the concoction, but the effect was quite amazing. Plant monsters that were hit by the spray was trashing and writhing about around her. That herbicide might be the most powerful force in this battle.

By now, a great number of trees had been pulled out, creating a clear path from the gate. Areas where the roots had been were all pockmarked and a hazard to the unwary. Speaking of which, the further we moved away from the village, the less accurate Ramis’ throws became. In the end, she just started chucking pulled up trees back into the forest.

Occasionally, screams would echo from deep within the forest, presumably the death cry of some unlucky monster struck by Ramis’ tree misile.

From the rate of our progress, I dare not think how long it would take for us to reach the boss monster. Even so, it was not like we were just randomly pulling up trees just for the heck of it.

"It doesn't seem to be moving yet."

Hyurumi, who had moved towards Ramis to stand beside her squinted her eyes at some point far away. She was staring at the Floor Boss, the giant tree sticking out above the other trees in the forest.

If it was a guardian entity, the theory was that it would come and attack us if we make a ruckus and destroy part of the forest. However, there was no movement at all.

“I think it would be quicker for us to go after the Commander at this point,” she said.

Considering how the monsters had been attacking us fearlessly in droves and in such a coordinated way, there had to be a Commander behind them.

A Commander has the authority to give orders to attack or retreat. However, the most troublesome aspect was how they could make the monsters attack us in endless waves disregarding how they or their comrades die.

“A Commander, hm? Thus far, all the Commanders we have encountered were of the human species,” said Hevoy. He had just arrived after smashing up a few veggie monsters.

“Hey, isn’t it kind of risky to assume that the Commander will be human just because of that?” said Shui who was still putting arrows into faraway targets as she approached us.

The number of enemies appeared to have decreased by a lot. To the point that the regular hunters could deal with them just fine.

“We could get Hakkon to grow bigger and smash the tree from above, but that thing is so big that there’s no guarantee that it would do anything.”

Even the largest vending machine in Japan, which also happens to be the largest in the world, is no match for that giant tree. I could probably gather enough momentum if I were to go high enough in the air to cause damage. However, the damage to myself would be incredibly high too. I could break apart from the impact.

If I don’t have enough height, the impact would not be enough to do anything… what a dilemma.

“A certain level of intelligence is needed to become a Commander. So, I don’t think the Commander would be a plant-based monster at least.”

Well, that was one way to eliminate the number of people/monster that could be the Commander. The only problem now was that, aside from all these enthusiastic/suicidal plant-monsters, no other suspicious figures were seen roaming about outside the village.

Do we really have no choice but to continue cutting down a path towards the Boss Tree?

"Everyone seems to be tired, why don’t we go back for now?” asked Ramis.

I finally noticed that the hunters around us were moving a little more sluggishly than usual. Oh, so they are tired?

Lately, I have been judging people’s stamina and ability to my comrades and did not realise just how normal it was for people to get tired this easily.

Most of the hunters I know could fight for a long time without getting tired because they were superior in some ways. However, most hunters could not fight continuously for over an hour.

Looks like we will have to prepare ourselves for a battle of attrition.

“Right, guess we’ll retreat. Fallback, everyone~!” Hyurumi called.

The hunters raised their weapons with tired cheers.

While it was a nice and quiet since the Director of Darkness was not here today, we ended up being overwhelmingly short of fighting strength.

I wish I could think of some plan that could save this Floor, but I don’t think there’s much I could do against trees in a forest.

Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~

“Still, we managed to collect loads of wood. This will speed up reconstruction work on Clearflow Lake,” said Hyurumi as she admired the sight of Ramis rearranging the trees that she had threw into the village.

I was set down a little further away from the logs, distributing food and drinks to the hunters who were taking a break. As I watched her work, I seriously wondered if her stamina was truly inexhaustible.

"The Clearflow Layer is a fairly wet area, right? So there should be quite a lot of trees there.”

Oh, that’s right, Hevoy haven’t been to Clearflow Lake yet. I get the illusion that we have been together forever because of his personable character, but it had not been that long since we first met.

“I want to turn these trees into timber wood once magic has returned to the teleportation circle. However, it would probably take another two or three days before we could safely use it.”

That’s right, until the teleportation circle works, there was nothing we could do but keep on grinding away in the forest, taking out plant monsters and pulling out trees.

While we are wasting our time like this, I wonder what Leader Keyroil is doing. Is he steadily clearing all the rest of the dungeons? Did the King of the Netherworld sabotage the teleportation circle to buy time for them?

However, there was no use rushing things. We can only continue to do what we can with the cards we were dealt with.

"Ou, there you are. I've been looking for you, you know!"

Everyone turned at the sudden booming voice behind them.

On a chariot-like cart pulled by a white pure white Unasus was the large figure of a bear in a hat. Kikoyu and Kuroyata peeped out from behind him and waved at us.

I must say, the sight of them waving their wing/hand was adorable.

“Hm? It’s the Director! And Kikoyu! And Kuroyata! And the Unasus! How did you guys—”

“Excuse me, we’re here too,”

“At times like this, you should really read the room and call attention to yourself later.”

Inside the cart were the elderly couple, Grandpa Shimerai and Grandma Yumite.

Their Japanese-esq traditional outfits showed they have come to this Floor as combatants.

“I guess we should explain how we managed to get to this floor, eh? Well, since the flow of magic appears to have settled a bit, we poured in a bit of magic onto this floor and activated your teleportation circle.”

The way he explained it sounded super simple, but isn’t it something close to impossible?

"As expected, the only person who could do this would be Grandpa,”

“I didn’t grow old for nothing, you know?” Grandpa casually dismissed Hyurumi’s praise.

As expected, this old man is on another level as a mage.

"But how did you know we were on this floor?"

"Such things are immediately apparent if you follow the flow of magical energy."

"No way, that's not something ordinary people can understand."

Hyurumi is dumbfounded by the old man's prowess, who looked quite proud of his own achievements. More people were arriving and getting off the platform. The chatter around us suddenly grew even more lively.

"Is the Director of the Beginner Floor staying behind?"

“Yes, she is good with paperwork, so I handed her the authority before leaving. As the Director of the Beginner Floor, they should know the work well.”

Looks like Director Bear plans to work in the field for a while.

It was hard to tell from his everyday countenance, but I think he was really bothered by the death of the inhabitants and wanted to resolve the incident with his own hands.

"Granny, long time no see!"

"Oh my, the young lady who eats a lot... was it Shui? It must have been tough on you, what with your Leader's situation."

"No worries, I'm over it now."

"Well, that's good. Now, the one behind you is... Mister Hevoy, right?"

"It's been a while. You were a big help last time. Your shoes are wonderful."

To think he would compliment someone’s shoes at the first meeting after a long time, his obsession is clearly unwavering.

I was unclear about Director of the Beginner Floor’s abilities, but I am truly glad to have the elderly couple with us. Especially Grandpa. With his magical abilities, things suddenly seemed more promising.

"Hmm, have we arrived? Yaaawn"

"Is it time for food?"

"Shirley says lack of sleep is a great enemy of beauty."

"Is it morning?"

Hmm, the ones stretching and looking like they've just woken up from a nap on the cart were members of the Big Eaters Squad. All four of the racoon dogs were here!

Ahhh~~ this completes the Mobile Zoo Party!

More than half of the members were animal humanoids. It was an animal paradise. I have no complaints about this arrangement. What an excellent view!

The healing effect is perfect, and it seems like we can do our best from tomorrow.

[Gumihou: Lol, this person is kind of unique]